Microsoft's Super Bowl Ad shows how the Microsoft Surface Pro can change the life of an ALS sufferer

It's sadly ironic. Steve Gleason, a former safety for the New Orleans Saints, made one of the most dramatic plays in Saints' history. Thanks to Hurricane Katrina, the people of New Orleans had suffered terribly. With the Saints unable to play in the Superdome for 21 months, Gleason blocked a punt in the first quarter of the first game in the Superdome in close to two years. The ball was recovered in the end zone for a touchdown and that moment marked the beginning of the city's turnaround and recovery. A statue depicting the block is displayed outside the Superdome.

But the man who symbolizes recovery in New Orleans will never recover from his medical problem. Gleason now suffers from ALS, better known as Lou Gehrig's Disease. In Microsoft's first ever Super Bowl ad, Gleason is shown confined to a wheelchair, using a Microsoft Surface Pro tablet to communicate. Thanks to a program that tracks his eyes, Gleason lets the tablet be his voice.

These are the moments when we should be celebrating technology for technology's sake regardless of the name on the device, or the operating system employed. ALS is a disease that no one wishes on their worst enemy. When you see how Gleason uses his Surface Pro throughout the day, you can understand how the tablet helps him have a much fuller life than those with ALS in the past.

Investigation on-going. Windows Life is dead. I get connection error when I launch the Window Marketplace program. Microsoft is a big business entity that does not think for their consumer pull the plug without succession path.

Yea bro, you should. Like I said, it sounds like a weak a** reason.
So, just to make my point, im not going to support google products because they do not update all of the devices running android to KitKat!!! Also, Im not going to support Apple products because all of their sh** is proprietary.
If that is your only reason for not supporting a company, then your butthurt about something.
Let me tell you about a let down, and I still somewhat support them.
For over 10 years I have been a loyal Windows Mobile customer. I had the latest and greatest Windows Mobile Phones, you know, the ones that could do exactly what Android could but years before android even came to light. Then they come out and smash everyone over the head with this restricted BS called Windows Phone 7 and screwed all their loyal WinMo customers such as myself, and they are not getting any better. Like I always said, If I wanted an iPhone, I would buy an iPhone!
So please tell me you got a better reason for not supporting them and not this little lame excuse that your precious game is not working because your the only one that likes it.......

I am not here to reason with WP fans. I am here to state the fact. Be it $30, $300 or $3000. People invest money because of trust.

From the way Microsoft run its Services that charge money, the more you put in the more you with lose. I have seem how others run their business especially those that charge their customer. e.g steam vs market place (eol) ; xbox 1 (eol) right after xbox 360 launch vs ps2 10 additional years of support after ps3 launch.

"I am here to state the fact"
Me too, so I guess people really trust a fully open source product that the most amateur hacker can rip and take most of your data in a single swoop since google made it so easy by uniting all of their products into one. Oh and I guess we all trust Apple so much with all of their money hungry proprietary crap that they have been doing for well over two decades. I am no fan of WP either bro, and they do manage to rip people from time to time, but you cant tell me that Microsoft holds less trust than google, if that is what you are saying, you are the blindest fanboy of them all.
Sorry bro, just stating the facts!

Here's the question: Is this a Microsoft app? Probably not. It's just a typical app made for any x86 based computer running windows. And now any tablet running Win8.1 can run it without resorting to spending a fortune on a surface.

Now, is this available for Android? Probably not. But with the marketshare of the ipad, it might be. A lot of the advantages of Windows being around forever is starting to dwindle.

For me it doesn't matter who does it, if google had done this I'd lose a lot of respect for them as well. Maybe it comes from working with people who have these issues, but even though they need special care, the last thing they want is to be put on display for everyone to gawk at. They simply want to try and retain some dignity and not be reminded constantly that they can't do all the things they used to.

I don't hate everything that MS does, I still use my Vista notebook all the time. As you know from our past discussions, I'm not a fan of W8 and the direction they're going, but just because I don't like that doesn't mean there aren't things I like about them as well. There are things I don't like about pretty much any company, Google included. What I don't get is why you think that if people have ANY criticisms about Microsoft or Windows that they hate them or are just being petty. None of these companies or OSs are perfect, and there's nothing wrong with having an opinion that isn't 100% supportive of them. If all you do is praise them, they'll never see or fix whatever problems they do have.

If you don't believe me, here are my problems with Google.
1. Them wanting everyone to have every little thing linked, like personal info, photos, YouTube, my schedule, etc. Some things I like to keep private.
2. Trying to force everyone to the cloud by removing expandable storage from phones. For things like pictures, music, and videos, the read speeds on SD cards are fine, and I'd rather not use my data allowance to access my files when I could simply store them all on my phone.
3. Selling Moto off. Why not give projects like the Moto X a chance to get traction before you write them off?
4. Being more honest about their dealings with the NSA. Whether they forced them or they went into it willingly, just tell us. Simply saying they knew nothing about it doesn't hold water, there's no way they didn't know what was going on.
5. Their dealings with MS. I don't know if they're POd because of the lawsuits, but just give them the same apps that they give Apple. While they're not legally bound to do so, it seems like kind of a d#*k move not to do so.

So those are my issues with Google. When I have a problem with a company, I'm not just being petty or vindictive, it's because I have an actual problem with them. We good now?

Yeah, we're good.. Of course..
And, I don't mind people stating negative facts about Microsoft.. That would be immature, and super biased, of me.. If you notice I only attack the obvious haters who just nitpick, and unnecessarily find something negative to say... It's always the same handful of children who do so.. I even point out negative things about MS.. Its not like I'm some clueless, idiot who refuses to believe that MS can do no wrong.. No, that's not me, and some fools on here would like to make everyone believe that.. If I cared to I could make a long list of things that frustrate me about MS, and some of the things that I would list would be some of the exact things that immature haters repeat over, and over, for no constructive reason..
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And, that's just it.. It's all about reasonable, mature, constructive criticism VS petty, immature, insecure, fearfully, hatred...
We're not all in the same league here.

Prove it.. Show me we're I've ever trolled on a Android, or iOS, article...
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All I ever post are serious, constructive criticism, or compliments.. I never rant about how I don't like Android, or iOS, on those related articles... That's what you, and the handful of your insecure buddies do... You guys claim you don't like WP, and MS, but you post most of your comments on those articles..
Ok... Yes, everything I said was to describe user like "that"

He never said anything about trolling other articles. I think what he's talking about is if someone has a negative criticism of WP or Windows OS. As you recall you had done the same to me when I had issues with W8, dismissing my criticisms as being "petty", which is why I posted what I did. While there are plenty of people who just post to bash, you seem to disregard everyone's opinions as being only to rag on MS or Windows.

For instance, once when I mentioned about the issues I was having with W8, you told me I had never used it. The issues I was having were because I had used it. My opinion is that they should've given the option of having the start menu in desktop, AND have the start screen available, and let people ease their way into the new setup. Handling it how they did could end up costing them customers. I would like to continue to use Windows, because I'm not real enthused about the other options, but I also don't like being forced into something that (at least for me) doesn't work as intuitively as previous iterations. That is my main gripe with W8.

I just proved what he was talking about. You make it sound like you're okay with people having genuine gripes. I did in past postings, and you treated me the same way, calling my motivation for posting "petty".

At this point, I have less problems with MS or Windows than with it's fans. Anytime I have seen you respond to someone criticizing either of the two, you dismiss them in the ways that he accused you of. And many times that was towards me. So if you're not talking about me then why have I seen the same behavior he described leveled at me?

1. Everyone is doing that - see Facebook - easy to disconnect
2. If you dislike cloud storage or really want an SD card in your phone, then do not get a Nexus product - simple as that. Companies love pushing cloud storage, as it is more money in their pockets. Personally, I want a microSD card, but I also like my Nexus 5 phone - I did compromise when I bought the device as I also miss a removable battery.
3. It was losing money and their policy was to separate it from their own projects for Android - that killed it right there - Moto X is ok - perhaps they felt that it conflicted with their partners (Samsung, for example). In the end, they got control of thousands of patents from it. I hope Lenovo does something great with it because Moto X was not great, it was ok, and OK does not do it in today's market. Also, Moto X and Nexus 5 under one company - seemed to me that they there just competing with each other.
4. Unsure about Google and the NSA - I do know that Microsoft was very willing to help our government spy on Americans. The joke about MS is their 'Swiss cheese' OS, and it appears it may have been purposely built that way. IE browser is a joke, and I wish I could delete that useless software from my PC - luckily there a dozen browsers better than it.
5. Google has no problem giving good apps to those with iphones. Have you seen some of the apps by Microsoft (and affliates) for an Android phone? They are terrible now - I downloaded Halo Waypoint and XBOX smartglass and Waypoint is unusable, while the Smartglass does not interact with the XBOX. Been that way for weeks now.

I get you have problems with Google, but Microsoft is by far the worst of the two. Personally, I hate how their phones are pretty much locked up. I used to own a TILT 8925 AT&T phone and loved to mod that device. The new Nokias seem nice, but, when you go over to XDA, there is hardly anything going on. I am not your average consumer and if I buy a device from a company, I want control over almost everything on it - with an Android phone, I can - with an iPhone and MS phone I cannot.

1. I don't use Facebook or any other social media, other than comments sections or forums. But somehow I now have a Google+ account that I don't use and never wanted, with people I've never heard of wanting to join their group.
2. It's not just Nexus products that don't have SD cards. Right now Samsung phones & the HTC One Max are the only Android phones released this year that had them. Before the Nexus S all phones had them, now 3 do. I believe Google had something to do with it.
3. When rebuilding a brand you seldom get out of debt overnight. But I believe the reason they bought them all along (besides patents) was to force Samsung into an agreement like the one they ended up with this week. Then they sell of an American tech icon to a foreign company. Now I know how the Fins feel.
4. This was not about my problems with MS, but with Google. All of those companies (Google, MS, Apple, etc) I'm sure were colluding with NSA. What I'm saying is that Google, and the others, needed to be transparent about what happened.
5. Emphasis on they are terrible NOW. That might be due to all the BS that happened with maps and YouTube. I know Google gives good apps to people with iPhones, I'm talking about getting good apps to WP users as well. If they can do it for Apple then they can do it for MS. What's really sad is Apple gives nothing to any other OSs in terms of apps.

That's pretty much what an ad is, from political to product. Axe spray won't suddenly make you irresistible, the car you buy can't jump on top a train to avoid traffic and that candidate isn't running because he wants to work for you.

I remember in 2002 adding an alarm that triggered when they fell out of their chair for someone in a similar situation. They used the same tech (eye tracking to communicate) but I don't recall who made it. While it is nice that MS is making this tech more mainstream, I agree about using someone with a disease or disability to promote your products. Whenever companies do that, it just feels like they're cashing in on someone's misfortune. No matter how well intentioned they may be, it just seems a bit sleazy. Maybe it'd be different if they simply talked about it rather than showing the person, that way it wouldn't be like they were pitting them on display.

So if they want to advertise what they can do, why not just say it in the ad, why do they have to use someone with these issues as a display model? They could simply say "We're helping people who can't communicate get their voice back." Do they need a visual aid to get their point across?

And then people would call it a theory. When you see ads that advertise apps helping deaf people or blind people is that ok? When you see ads for apps helping autistic kids is that ok? It only makes sense to advertise all the hard work and research that a company put into new tech.

Like I said in a previous post, after working with people in this situation, any I have dealt with don't want be used like a prop to sell something. This is their words. They want to be seen a s a person, not as a person with disease A or disability X. There wouldn't be anything wrong with telling you what they can do, and then if they're interested, give them a demonstration. But I've seen many people when I did communication work in the healthcare system who get angry when they see companies using their illness to make money.

But clearly this person did, or they wouldn't have been able to use footage of him. So what's the issue, none of these people you know we're used as a prop, the person who wanted to do the commercial did it. Everyone is happy.

This is just brilliant. When it comes to real use of tech it's always ends with real operating systems. Windows will always be windows and will be light years ahead of the competition no matter the hate for MS.

No, they aren't at all... Go to Fry's, Best Buy, or Staples right now... There's swarm's of people looking at, and buying, MS products everyday..
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Internet nerds are just that... Since they don't get out in the real world they think this online minority is reality...

See my post #13. And while I will give you that there are many who do spread outrageous BS, like Apple is going away, there are also some with legitimate opinions. The problem is many people dismiss them and lump them in with the more extreme groups. If you dismiss all opinions, legitimate and illegitimate, then no one's opinions have any credence.

No, I don't do that.. Now, I'm not gonna keep entertaining you.. If you don't like it then o could care less.. I've already explain to you the kinds of trolls I'm talking about, but if it makes you happy then I promise you I'll be more open minded when it comes to criticism,, only if I see it as not trolling.. Anything else I will seek out and call out.. Sorry, but I'm not going to back down from these haters...
And, that guy above is one of the main ones I'm talking about.. If you're one of the good guys, then great more power to you.. But, I get your point, and quit stressing it over and over.. You sound like you're begging for acceptance or something.. It's not that big a deal, my friend.

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